A Deeper Look Within
by JacksTortugaLass
Summary: A series of short drabbles, ficlets based on a series of images of Daniel Faraday. For the rundown of the image that goes with the story, please see my profile. Rated for later chapters.
1. Uninspiring

Author's Notes: This is the first of hopefully many stories in which they are based off a picture of Daniel Faraday. For the rundown ot the images that go with the stories, please see my info page. (I would put the url in the story itself but that never works.)

Summary: A look inside Faraday's mind when he's not saying anything.

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He can do this. He can concentrate and focus on one thing. His mind goes straying though, and he suddenly has a craving for pickles and mango. But not together. Maybe together? He wonders how that would taste. And pastries with raspberry filling. He shakes his head. Think. Think. He can do this. Just concentrate on one thing. One thing only. Just the island. And it's...things. He bets this is what people with Attention Deficit Disorder feel like. Or rather their brains. Actually, that's probably the whole point of ADD. That the brain won't focus. The body wants to. Like how Dan wants to do this and yet...The letter 'e' is a wonderful thing. Like Emc2. He shakes his head again, okay. Focus. The grass doesn't lie right on the island. That's strange. It seemed almost inspiring. After all those years..were they years? Were the minutes? Either way, he stared, waving his hand over the grass a few more times.

"Dan?"

"Yeah. Yeah." He runs a hand through his beard. "The light's just off a bit. Isn't it?"

"Dan." The voice. Frank's voice. It sounds irritated. Like always.

"Right."

Was he talking to himself? Looking around, he saw Frank staring at him. Good. So he wasn't. He was answering someone. That was a good sign. Unlike the grass. He stopped thinking about the mangoes. The pastries still sounded good though. Frank had to make the trip on the same bearings.

A smile formed on his lips. He did it. Sure, he struggled. But there. Right...there. He thought a single thought. He grinned fully now while everyone else stared to what they thought was a semi-insane man.

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Author's Notes: Thank you for reading!


	2. Like Everyone Else

Like Everyone Else

Summary: Standing here, being like this, it was almost like he was normal.

Author's Notes: This second part is slightly Daniel/Charlotte so if that bothers you, I wouldn't read this. That bit is only at the end though.

There's a feference to "The Wizard of Oz" which I also don't own.

Written while listening to the song "Best Days" by Matt White.

The fragmented sentences are kept for a reason, I seem to think that Faraday thinks in those kinds of phrases.

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Standing like this, being this still, in between two people that everyone else that were 'normal', Dan thought that maybe he could be normal too. He wondered if he could even pull off 'normal'. But maybe for this brief moment, no one thought he was crazy or odd or scattered in the brain. Or, even worse, think he didn't have a brain. Like that character from that book. Something about a rod up his back and unable to get down. Maybe he was like that character. Blinking, he realized how this took him back to when he was normal. It was fuzzy at times but if he tried, he could almost remember that life. It was as if it happened to someone else and not him.

She was beautiful. The girl that thought he was something. And it wasn't an 'odd' something. But rather something that could lead to something more. And she was patient with him. That was important in those days. The busy days of all the uncertainty with his life. Not that he was the way he was now but it was nice to have that calm around him. She liked how he talked more with his hands and less with his words. She liked his ties and watch that he never took off. Not even during sex. That was the other thing about her. She liked having sex with him. And they took advantage of that enjoyment when they could. Things seemed well. There were moving boxes, things unpacked from boxes and things still in the boxes. Wine was tried for the first time. Then champagne. Both were enjoyed. Beer not so much. He never would tie his tie in the mornings since she did for him. She loved him. He felt something towards her as well, but never said it. He was afraid. A bit deep down inside where his more human, less scientific self was sitting, it waited somewhat impatiently. It was waiting to be woken and, as of yet, it hadn't been. That worried him, but he thought nothing about it. Maybe that was how it was supposed to be. The woman was to feel the most and then, after a while, he would too.

But then his work crawled into his brain, into his hands, and into his words. He couldn't get away and she couldn't understand how he was leaving her for the work. But it wasn't like that. He hadn't meant to leave her alone for days on end, no phone calls. No more sex. No more talks with hands and less with words. Then she left. Her things, which had once been beside his, were gone. No note, not that he expected one. His work became more after that. More and more important. More inspiring, or trying to make it become inspiring. Love, was it love? What it was, whatever it was, it didn't produce the right outcome. Maybe he was the wrong variable. Maybe she was. Maybe the nights and days weren't timed right. He decided to try it again. But the option never came. Dan took the coward's way out, standing in the back and waiting for it to happen, not knowing that he could make the first move. He was signed onto a team. A team with people he didn't really know. They were supposed to rescue some people. They had another objective. But that one girl. Maybe she could be the next variable. Maybe they could make the 'correct' outcome. She wasn't patient, wasn't helping him, and wasn't standing behind to see if he would look her way. She was different. And now, so was he. His brain wasn't right. Or something. He wasn't sure. But the island was a nice different place. Perhaps with those variables that were so different from before…

"Dan."

He blinked again. Charlotte was staring at him. The others. Jack. The other woman, Kate? Kate, right. They had left. Charlotte continued to stare at him. Dan stared back.

"This is where you say something so that I know you're not suddenly mute."

Dan pushed off helicopter, "Right. Um. So there's this thing."

Charlotte started to walk away, Dan followed. She said nothing, which prompted him to continue. "Can I try this experiment?"

"Are you going to end up sending more rockets hurtling towards us?"

"No. Nothing that dangerous." He glanced sideways at her, his fingers twitched. It was as if they were warning him of the danger ahead. Maybe more dangerous. But maybe that was the variable that was needed. Danger added with the love. Or something. The whatever that he felt from the before time that he wasn't sure really happened.

"You really need to learn how to think and walk at the same time."

She was a while ahead of him again; he walked quickly to join her side. "Sorry. Um. But yeah. Can I try it? That experiment?"

"Whatever."

There it was that frustration that she so frequently had with him. He added that to the on growing list of variables. Looking up to the clear sky, he pointed, "Full moon."

"It's the middle of the day."

"Well. Yeah. But later on. In the night?"

She fixed him with a look, her mouth still frustrated. But her eyes were different. He never noticed how different they were before. Very different from the other woman's eyes. "As opposed to the middle of the morning."

"Yeah. 'Cause that'd be like something out of Star Wars or something. Except not with the two suns." His hands twitched again. He put them at the edges of his vest, fiddling with the edges. There was something almost teasing in her tone. That was new. His list of variables was growing better as the moments happened. He made a note to himself that, he knew he would forget later, to write them down. He'd forget, he knew. Or he would remember, days later and not realize what it was about.

Maybe this could be his 'something' after all. The thing that really he was looking for all along. He smiled to her and added to the list the smile that she returned. Even if it was for only a moment.

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Author's Notes: Thank you for reading!  
Be sure to check my profile for the image that goes with this part!


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